


Collateral - Part 1

by Kneeckoh



Series: Parallel [2]
Category: Vocaloid
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Gen, Time - Freeform, Vocaloid - Freeform, utauloid
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-05
Updated: 2016-04-10
Packaged: 2018-05-12 00:10:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5646844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kneeckoh/pseuds/Kneeckoh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is the story of a very important day in the lives of two independent characters: Miku Hatsune and Neru Akita. It is a story of life, love, hope, the future, and what it means to be (or not be) a Vocaloid.  How will the two of them fare this time?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Collateral, Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first part of my Vocaloid fanfiction. It'll 10 chapters long, and I'll be posting them all individually, periodically. It follows the lives of Vocaloid Miku Hatsune and Boukaloid Neru Akita, with an un-xp=c--d=-w---=  
> =--=-= -=  
> 101100  
> 108 111 32  
> 20 48 65 6c  
> lo? Hello- ah, there we go. Sorry about the, eh... random numbers, I didn't mean to leave the notes and stuff the same as Simultaneous. This is definitely not the same story- or, well, I guess in a sense, it is, but spoilers. Unlike the last part, this one will have one chapter per- well, chapter, since they tend to be longer than the ones in Simultaneous. Either way, though, this is still the story of Neru Akita and Miku Hatsune and their everyday lives- with an unexpected twist.

   ---      
      --- 06:00 AM ---     
                   --,

Neru woke to the sound of a text.

 _Sekaaaii dee, ichii-ban o hime-samaaa!_ sang the phone.

Neru didn't budge.  She had woken up at the first note of the song, but just felt... so tired...  When suddenly,

_Sou iuu atsukai, kokoo-roo, eeteee~!!_

Neru's eyes flew open.  She knew that none of her ringtones included _any_ second verse, _much_ less this one.  And the sound was coming from the wrong side, too.  She always kept her phone to her left, not her right.

As the song continued through the instrumental, Neru sat up quickly.  But she was immediately dragged off the bed by a huge weight attached to the right side of her head!  As she fell, she hit a table, knocking the stuff off it and stopping the song abruptly.

As she picked herself up off the floor, groaning and trying not to overcorrect for the weight, she observed the room.  It was immediately evident that it was not her own room, if for no other reason than that it was more than twice as large as her own bedroom.  She stumbled over to the wall where she saw the light switch, and, flipping it, she saw that the room was filled to the brim with Miku Hatsune paraphernalia.  Posters, figurines, furnishings, toys... even the floor was Miku-colored.

Biting back the knot in her throat, she noticed some drawn curtains on the wall behind the bed.  She crawled up onto the bed and pulled the curtains to the side, revealing an unfamiliar streetscape through the large window.  The room she was in looked to be very high up, the third or fourth floor, and building at seemed to be at the end of a cul-de-sac, the street stretching toward the horizon directly ahead.  On either side of the street were a just couple of houses, and between them were empty, overgrown lots.  The sun was just beginning to light up the sky as Neru looked over this unfamiliar landscape.  She thought hard, trying to remember if she recognized this place.  It seemed _almost_ familiar...

Suddenly she remembered.  She remembered it all in an instant.  The scandal, the chase, the confrontation, the duel...  The images flashed through her mind as she realized where she must be.  But that was impossible.  She wasn't allowed in this neighborhood, much less in the Crypton household, and most certainly not in _Miku's own room_.

"What _happened_ last night?" she thought, trying to remember.  "What happened _all yesterday_??"  She couldn't really recall anything...  It all seemed so vague for some reason...  What day was it anyway?  Glancing around, she noticed a clock on the ground beside the bed.  Bending over to retrieve it, she noticed a hand mirror on the floor beside it, and decided to pick it up as well, to see what was weighing down her head.

As she did so, she tried to remember what day it was.  Had yesterday been the 8th?  Or the 9th?  After a little deliberation, she decided that today must be the 10th.  She remembered the 8th, and it had most certainly not been yesterday.  But, as she was picking the items up, she noticed a small slot in the clock's face, displaying the date.   _It read 4/9_.

But that was impossible!   _Yesterday_ had been the ninth!  Today was the tenth, but the clock told her otherwise.  After recovering from the shock, writing it off as a simple malfunction, she glanced in the mirror.  But the glance was not returned.  At least, not by herself.  In the mirror was a stranger, someone she knew so much, yet so little about.  She stared at the twintailed figure, whose synchronized blinking, breathing, and moving confounded her.  But, in an instant of crazy epiphany, she realized that what was being reflected was herself.

**_She was Miku.  And today was the ninth.  Again._ **

 

\---,  )--\-----     
      ( ( 07:00 AM ) )     
           --- ---(     ‘---

Miku woke to the sound of silence.  She lay in her bed, slowly opening her eyes as her internal clock told her that she needed to get up.  As she stared up at the ceiling, her eyes slowly widened as she realized that something was terribly wrong.  The ceiling wasn't the right color.  Even in this dim light, it was clear that it was a more greyish beige than the normal light-brown she was used to.  Wide awake now, she looked around the room.  It was obvious that it wasn't her own room, if for no other reason than it was less than half the size of her bedroom.

She sat up quickly in a wave of panic, but was immediately dragged off the bed by a huge weight on the left side of her head.  As she pried herself from the small space between the bed and the wall, her hand fell on the phone she had knocked off the bedside stand.  She grasped it, trying to remember what had happened as she stood.  But everything was all fuzzy.  Yesterday had been the ninth... right?

She staggered over to the door and opened it, and was greeted with an unfamiliar sight.  To her right was a small table, and past it, further to the right, was a sliding glass door which opened to a balcony.  Past this door was a kitchen, and to the left of the kitchen was another room.  Directly to her left was a door, slightly open, set into a wall perpendicular to the door she had emerged from.

It was into this door that she proceeded tentatively.  It led to a bathroom, and as she fumbled around on the wall for a light switch, she glanced down at the phone.  It was a yellow cell phone, a standard model, though a bit outdated and very well worn.  It seemed familiar somehow.

She accidentally switched on the light, but was distracted by the phone.  She flipped it open to check the date.  But what it told her left her incredulous.  "April 9" the screen read.  But that was impossible!  That was _yesterday_!

As she pondered this, trying to rationalize the fact that the same day was happening twice, her gaze wandered to the bathroom mirror, and her train of thought was completely obliterated.  Reflected in the mirror, where she should have been, was a stranger.  A girl around her age, a single yellow ponytail weighing down the left side of her head, was reflected instead.  The slanted eyes, the shorter shirt, and the yellow highlights made it obvious that this girl was Neru Akita.  It took Miku mere seconds to realize this, and several more to recall their last meeting.  It had occurred suddenly, yesterday... Wait, yesterday?  The ninth?  But... today was the ninth.  She came to a shocking conclusion.

**_Today was yesterday.  And Miku, was Neru._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS- This right here, was the reason I started writing this story. Redo the same day, but in someone else's shoes- "Groundhog's Friday", or, uh, "Freaky Groundhog's Day"...? P-point is, those have both been concepts that fascinated me, and putting them together, along with Neru and Miku, was the recipe for the beginning of what eventually turned into this story. Now, let's get back to the swapped pair, shall we? How will they fare in each other's lives...


	2. Collateral, Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neru gets ready to face the day.

   ---      
      --- 07:14 AM ---     
                   --,

Neru sat, boredly flipping through the thousands of cable channels the Crypton household received. Sports, news, sit-coms, Saturday morning cartoon shows... of course, there wasn't anything on. She sighed and turned off the TV, tossing the remote onto the coffee table in front of her. She needed to focus, and figure out how she was going to do things today.

After pacing back and forth in her... Miku's room for about half an hour, She had decided to just go with it. This... condition was clearly some sort of supernatural, trans-dimensional, time-space thingy, and she didn't want to break the universe by changing things.

In the end, after much deliberation, she had decided on two events she knew Miku had done this day. The first of these was the concert, Miku's "Big 39th Concert"... whatever that meant. It ran from 9 in the morning to 3 in the afternoon, and Neru was pretty sure that Miku hadn't driven herself there, for the second of these two events. Miku had been at the bottom of that sloped street exactly at 4'o'clock PM. It was for that reason that she suspected that someone else had taken her to the concert, and whoever that was probably lived in this house.

It was for the same reason that she had meticulously picked out the exact disguise/costume that she remembered Miku wearing when they had collided. She didn't want anything to be different. At least, "anything" in reference to what she knew to be true with her limited knowledge.

She had, after thinking really, really hard about it, finally remembered what Miku's costume had looked like. It had been strange; the memory had come suddenly and vividly, but she hadn't questioned this. She had quickly scrounged together the clothes from around Miku's room; the pants from the pile in the corner, the hat from the rack next to the door, the wig from a shelf in the closet, and the shoes from under the bed of all places.

But the backpack, she hadn't found in Miku's room. After searching Miku's room from ceiling to floor, she decided to expand her search parameters to the rest of the house, which she had previously explored. And, of all the places it could have been, she had found it clutched in Len's arms. Red faced, she had carefully extracted the backpack from the sleeping boy, with barely a thought about why he had had it to begin with. She was too preoccupied with the fact that she was in the same room as the boy she had had a crush on ever since she had first seen him two and a half years ago.

She still remembered the moment vividly. The left half of her vision had been obscured, but she had seen him for the first time that day. She had looked away quickly when they had made eye contact, brushing her hair out of the way to see better, but she found him gone when she had looked back.

That had been the first and last time she had been in Crypton territory, but it certainly hadn't been the last time she had seen Len. She had followed him many a time to the border of the Crypton land, and he was none the wiser. Many days, she didn't have anything better to do, anyways.

Neru leaned back against the couch, staring at the wall behind her. 7:20, the upside-down clock there read. She now recalled that, in a few minutes, Haku would get up and she... herself... would have to go on a wild goose chase to find her. But her reminiscing was interrupted suddenly by a loud voice from the stairs behind her.

"Miku!" it boomed, causing Neru to jump up and look around for where it had come from. It was Meiko, hurrying down the stairs, and she said, "We need to leave soon! Are you packed??"

"Uh, ye- yeah," Neru stammered. Meiko stopped behind the couch a moment to stare at the backpack, brow furrowed.

"Where did you..." she said after a pause. "Oh, never mind." She shook her head and hurried into the kitchen, saying, "I've got to pack you people some lunches."

Neru walked over and stood across the bar from the kitchen. "What's the rush?" she asked indifferently, hoping that the question didn't arouse too much suspicion. But Meiko was too busy hastily gathering items from around the room to notice the oddness of her question.

"Well," Meiko said, grabbing bread out of a cupboard, "We've got to be there by eight, so we should leave around 7:40 at the latest to get there on time."

"Actually, we've got more time than that. That's an estimate based on the normal amount of time it takes to get there, correct? And as most of... my concerts take place later in the day, there would be more traffic, both pedestrian and vehicular. But, judging by the time this one's scheduled for, I estimate that there would be substantially less traffic en route to the concert hall, giving us approximately 5 minutes more. We don't have to leave until 7:45."

Neru blurted this all before she could think about how out of character it could sound, and, judging by Meiko's expression, it must have sounded pretty strange.

"You... figured all that out youself?" Meiko asked.

"Uh... yeah..." Neru said warily.

They paused. "Well, that's great. Go get the twins up, and tell Kaito that he needs to get-- oh, there he is."

"Morning, Miku!" Neru turned toward the voice. "Oh, and you too, Meiko," the blue-haired man said as he came down the stairs. "I've gotta get the equipment from downstairs; we've got to leave in 15--"

"20 minutes," Meiko interrupted, but Neru was too far up the stairs to hear the rest of her explanation. She was still thinking about what she had said. Had she blown it? Would Meiko figure it out?

Neru had always had the unfortunate habit of incredible planning skills. She still remembered the last assignment she had turned in before leaving high school. It had been a 2 week, 16-page final exam essay, even the topic of which she had now forgotten. She had spent the entire first day of it, the day it had been assigned, estimating and extrapolating, meticulously plotting and planning every single day of the two week period and what needed to be done by them.

But, she never followed through with it. She had lost the first day, after all, and what was the point of doing something if your plan wasn't going to work anyway? So, in the end, she had just handed in 16 pieces of paper, blank save for her name on the first of them. She hadn't returned to school after that day.

Neru sighed, remembering all this as she neared the top of the steps. She turned at the top, and turned again after a few steps to proceed down the hall. At the end was her... Miku's room, and on either side were Len's and Rin's rooms. After a little deliberation, she went up to the door on the left.

Hesitating only a moment, she knocked on his door, saying, "Hey! Len! We've gotta leave in 20 minutes!" when a frantic sound of throwing stuff about and moving things around was his only reply, she slowly opened the door, revealing the messy yellow-haired boy rummaging around in his dressers.

"Len? Are you packed yet?" she asked harshly.

He looked up quickly, surprised. "I was just... looking for something..."

Neru's brow furrowed. "Well, we gotta go soon! Clean up this mess and get packed! I don't want to be late for my concert!"

He jumped up and began stuffing stuff into drawers and shelves, slowly clearing the floor. A few minutes passed. "Ugh, you're so slow," she said quietly, rolling her eyes. "Here, let me help." She reached down and grasped a yellow handle-shaped object at her feet and pulled it out from the bottom a pile of clothes. She lifted it up to examine it, but suddenly, Len noticed it and his face lit up. He lunged for it, grabbing its handle--but froze, noticing that his and her hands were nearly touching.

They stared at each other, both their faces growing slowly redder, until Len said quietly, "I... need this."

She glanced down at the yellow object, and saw that it was a backpack, empty and wrinkled. She quickly let go of it and he brought it closer to himself as she turned and left the room, loudly saying "Well! Get packed quickly!!"

She closed the door behind herself and leaned against it, putting her hand on her chest where her she felt her heart beating madly.

Had he...? Why would...? Did he maybe...?

She couldn't form any complete thoughts; her mind was racing as uncontrollably as her heart. She just couldn't get past the expression Len had had on his face. Had it possibly been...

But that was impossible. She shook her head, realizing that she was going back downstairs without checking on Rin. She knocked on Rin's door and began to open it, saying, "Rin? Are you packed up? We gotta--" but was interrupted.

"Miiiiikuuuuuuu!!!!" Rin yelled. "I'm changing! Get out! Sheesh!"

Neru froze, all the incomplete and confused thoughts fleeing from her mind to be replaced by the exasperation and hard logic that usually comprised her thoughts. "Well, we gotta go in, like, 15 minutes!" she said, closing the door and walking back down the hall huffily. She walked downstairs, her awkward encounter with Len all but forgotten.

When she reached the ground floor, Meiko was at the kitchen's bar, packing lunches for everyone. "You got the twins up?" she asked.

"Yeah, they're up. They should be down in a bit," Neru said plopping down on the couch where she had been sitting earlier. She sat there for a few minutes to rest and gather her thoughts until they wandered to Len as she gazed at the backpack beside her. Her eyes slowly grew wider as she put the pieces together. Len's blush, his frantic searching, where she had found the backpack in the first place... What would he think when he saw her with it?!

She leapt up and swung the backpack onto her back, looking around frantically for a place where Len wouldn't see her when he came downstairs, which he would undoubtedly soon. The living room was out of the question. Kitchen... too close. Dining room... too open. She strode into the front hall where the front door was, imposing and tall. But, checking outside, there were no immediate hiding spots.

As she closed the large door, she looked around the front hall once more, and noticed something she hadn't seen on her initial survey of the building. Set into a wall to the right of and perpendicular to the front door was another, smaller door, flush with the wall. It was open.

Neru walked up to it, wondering if this was just what she needed. Past the door were stairs leading downwards into a right turn, past which she couldn't see.

"The basement?" she thought, proceeding through the doorway and down the stairs. Carefully peeking around the corner, she saw that it did, down a few more steps, lead to a basement. She proceeded down these as well, and surveyed the basement.

She was standing at the base of the stairs, which went up to her right until they turned the corner to the left. To her left was what seemed to be the water heater, a large white cylinder with pipes and dials coming out of it. To her right, tucked beneath the stairs, was a large machine-looking thing, a block of metal about two feet wide, its top sloping to match the stairs. It was covered with dials and lights and displays, but none of them were on.

Across the room from her, in the left corner, was another room, separated from the rest of the basement by a glass wall. Through this domed window she could see various wires and other equipment scattered around the floor. It seemed to be a recording studio, as there was a microphone set up inside it, and the glass seemed rather thick.

To the right of this window was a rather nondescript span of wall, inset was a small, plain door. But past this door was something much more interesting, and it was this object that she approached.

It was what appeared to be a large set of metal double doors, set at a 45 degree angle to all the other walls. It was well polished, shiny and smooth, save for the two well worn handles on either side of the crack between the doors. Hesitantly, she lifted her hands and gripped the shiny handles; they were cold to the touch. She pulled on them, but they didn't budge. Was it locked? There was no keyhole...

She pulled harder, but still they didn't move. Then, in one final effort to open them, she threw her entire weight into it, and with a loud "Plah!" sound, they opened. A wave of clod air hit her as she looked through the empty mesh shelving inside the object.

"A giant... freezer?" Neru thought, puzzled. "Why would they have..."

"Oh, hey, Miku!" A voice suddenly came from directly beside her, and she almost jumped. She quickly composed herself and turned to see Kaito, carrying a box of wires and other equipment. He must have emerged from the nondescript door beside the freezer while she had been distracted!

"Yeah, we're out of ice cream," he continued. "I'm gonna get some more today." Neru suddenly remembered what she had heard about Kaito and his ice cream obsession. "I'll be able to pick you up from the concert hall around... 4, alright?"

He smiled, and began walking toward the stairs. Neru stood, letting the freezer's doors close by themselves, trying to sort out all this information and make sure it all lined up.

"Wait!" she yelled suddenly, and Kaito turned towards her on the stairs. "Can you... um, pick me up around 4:30, instead?" she asked nervously.

"Yeah, that's fine," he replied instantly. "Is that all?"

She nodded, relieved. "Well, I gotta... check something," she said, pointing vaguely behind herself with her thumb.

"Alright. I'm gonna drive the van around front, so get done quick." He proceeded up the stairs.

Neru smiled. She would hang out here for a few minutes, then, hopefully after Len had gotten in the van, she would emerge, concealing the backpack from his view.

Today would be flawless.


	3. Collateral, Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miku makes a friend.

\---,  )--\-----    
      ( ( 07:33 AM ) )     
           --- ---(     ‘---

"No, Haku!  Haku!  You _can't_ go outside!  Not like _this_!"

Miku restrained the white-haired woman as she struggled to get past Miku to the door behind her.  Her  hair flowed free of its usual constraints, the ribbon tangled among her silver locks.  Haku's face was flushed bright red, whether from sickness or drink Miku could not tell, and streaked with panicked tears.  It was clear that the woman was not in her right mind.

Haku grappled and babbled all the while, but Miku finally managed to wrestle her down onto the couch, where Miku held her down until she calmed down a bit.

"Why are you so set on going outside?!"  Miku asked sternly.

"I, I gotta- I have- I- I-" Haku gasped between panicked sobs.  "I've, I've got to- I- I have to- have..." but she broke down before she could say anything cohesive.

Miku sighed and bit her lip, leaning back to sit on the table the couch faced.  Haku lay there for a minute, staring past the ceiling, before taking a deep, shuddering breath and releasing it slowly.  She continued this cycle for several minutes as Miku recalled how it had all started.

~ ~

After Miku had come to terms with her predicament, she had gotten dressed and taken a better survey of the house.  Around 7:30, Miku had been lounging on the couch, checking through Neru's phone to figure out what she was to do that day.  When suddenly, the door behind her had slammed open, and she spun around to see a disheveled, white-haired woman standing in the doorway.  It took Miku to recall that it was Haku Yowane; 27 years old, failed applicant to Vocaloid-dom more than 2 years ago.  But wouldn't that mean...?

Miku stared at Haku, unsure of how to respond.  But Haku said hoarsely, "I'm going out."  Miku could tell, by her posture, the rings under her eyes, the color of her skin, and the shakiness in her voice, that Haku was in no fit state to go outside.  So she jumped up to protest.

~ ~

Miku's recollection was broken when Haku said, "Last night, I... had a dream... No, a nightmare..."

"About what?" Miku prompted quietly.

"I... I can't remember... can't remember..."  Haku said, her breathing becoming more unsteady once again.  "I had to tell... I had to tell him... to warn... someone..."

"Who?"

" _I can't remember_ ! I had to, to warn!  I _had_ to!" Haku yelled and sat up quickly.  

Miku jumped up and helped her up, saying "C'mon, c'mon...  Let's get you to bed.  You need to rest..."  She half guided, half carried Haku into her bedroom.  Haku was mumbling quietly, but drifted into silence.

They stood staring down at Haku's bed, Miku carrying Haku and Haku leaning on Miku.  Suddenly, Haku turned and pressed her head against Miku's chest.  Miku, surprised, released her grip from her, but Haku clung to Miku, her arms wrapped tightly around Miku's waist.

"Neru..." Haku said quietly.  Miku stood silently, her hands hovering behind Haku, unsure of what to do.  Haku continued, "Neru... promise me... promise me that you'll never... leave me... _Promise me... please..._ "

Miku stood silently a moment, wide eyed, before replying, "I... promise..."

Neither of them moved for a few seconds.  Haku ever so slowly detached herself from Miku, and lowered herself into the bed.  She smiled and closed her red eyes, her smile fading as she drifted into sleep.  Miku turned and left the room, closing the door softly behind her.  It was time to get down to business.

She had decided fairly early on to just run with it, with all of... this, being Neru thing.  There wasn't really anything she could do about her predicament, at least not to the best of her knowledge.  She could just view this as a short vacation from the nerve-wracking life of being a world-renowned pop star.  And if worst came to worst... well, hopefully it wouldn’t come to that.

Neru's phone, she had quickly discovered, would be an invaluable asset.  Neru had literally kept everything on it.  From phone numbers to finances, addresses to shopping lists: if anyone wanted to know anything about Neru's life, her phone was the key.

And, according to it, Neru was currently working at a small restaurant run by AH Wares, located on the far side of the Plaza.  It could actually be kinda fun, just having a normal everyday job, getting to know people, making friends...

Miku had packed all the essential items into a bag, which she picked up from the coffee table.  Taking one final look around the apartment, she opened the front door and stepped out, saying to nobody in particular, "I'll be back."  She closed the door behind herself, then walked up to the railing and looked to the right to where the road faded in the distance.  Somewhere down that way, around a corner or two and across the Plaza would be her job, her first normal job in longer than she could remember.

Miku smiled and turned, proceeding down the stairs to the street.  As she reached the ground floor, she saw someone pacing, and blurted, without thinking, "Hello, neighbor!"

She froze as the tall stranger turned towards her, thinking, _Is this how Neru would do things?  Am I giving myself away??  Is this person even my neighbor?!_

They stared at each other for a few seconds before the other girl said, "Have we met?"

Miku breathed a silent sigh of relief.  Thank goodness, they were strangers.  Miku smiled and bowed slightly, saying "No, I don't believe we have.  I'm Neru Akita.  I live in Apartment 202, upstairs."

"Oh, you live here too?" the girl said, raising her eyebrows.  "I've lived here for a while," she gestured to the door with the number 102 on it, "but I've never seen you before."

Miku nodded vaguely, as if she felt reciprocally.  Who was this girl?  It was on the tip of her consciousness... Ah.  Ah, yes.  She remembered now; the heterochromatic eyes were an obvious giveaway.

"I'm Ruko Yokune.  Pleased to meet you," the girl said, bowing.  "So, where are you off to, Akita?"

"Uh, I work across the plaza," Miku replied.

"So you're heading south?"

"I guess so," Miku replied tentatively, hoping none of her answers would or could lead to suspicion.

"I'm headed that way for a bit as well."

Miku almost jumped; this could be her chance!  "Oh!  Can we walk together, then??"

Ruko stood thoughtfully for a moment, then said, "I suppose.  I was waiting for someone... but it doesn't look like he's gonna show."  She glanced disdainfully at door 101, then turned and began walking.

Miku jogged up to walk alongside her.  She remembered meeting Ruko at her introductory interview, where she had learned the few things Miku knew about her.  She was tall, slept a lot, liked coffee, and, when she had been interviewed, worked a low level job in UTAU Towers.  Her costume hadn't changed a bit.  Miku had thought that Ruko would soon be rejected- more than most could say- but apparently the verdict was still out on that.  Several companies had their eyes on her, but none could decide whether her double voicebank was worth the trouble and risk.

But of course, Miku doubted that Neru knew any of this.  So she feigned ignorance.

"So," Miku began, "Where do you work?"

"Oh, over in UTAUlia."

"Well, that much was obvious," Miku said, rolling her eyes.  "You must take the train, then?"

"Yeah."

UTAUlia was where, of course, the UTAUloids lived and worked.  UTAUlian Enterprises employed more than 90% of the UTAUloids, and their main office was UTAU Towers, a 150 story tower in the center of UTAUlia.  In the tower's ground floor is a huge train station, from which UTAUloids and people can come and go from the tower.  The rails themselves spread in the four cardinal directions from the tower, stretching across UTAUlia, and, to the east, into the Vocaloid township.

UTAUlia itself is gigantic, almost large enough to become its own country.  It houses all the thousands of failed, fanmade, unofficial Vocaloids, which have been dubbed UTAUloids.  UTAUlia sprawls from its ever-growing edge to the Flowing Melody, the wide, winding river separating the UTAUloids and the Vocaloids.

"I work in UTAU towers; I've just got a normal job, about halfway up.  Nothing too interesting."

"Hnn..."  Miku paused, unsure of how to continue.  "So... who were you waiting for earlier?"

"Hmmm," Ruko said, almost smiling.  "He's a friend.  He works on the floor below mine, and he's pretty nice.  His name is Rook."

"Rook... Never heard of him."  This, of course, was a lie.  Although she had never met him personally- the pipeline had dropped him fairly early on- but she had made it her job to know at least _something_ about him, just as she had to _each and every resident_ of their world.

"He's nice..." Ruko said, staring off into the distance.  "Well, here's the train station, and the train's arriving soon."

Miku nodded.  The station was large and imposing, as well as crowded with people, workers who didn't live in UTAUlia.  "I've better get going as well; I don't want to be late for my work, either.  So, I guess we part ways here?"

"I suppose so," Ruko replied. "But, of course, I'll have to come here after work, and of course we still live in the same building."

Miku smiled.  "Well, I'll try to meet up with you then!"

"'Bye."

"Bye bye!"  Miku walked off, glancing back only to check the time on the station's clock.  It was 8:02; she had plenty of time.

Today would be flawless.


	4. Collateral, Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neru has a fun time singing.

 ---      
      --- 12:41 PM ---      
                   --,

 

It was amazing.  It was exhilarating.  It was beautiful.  It was _her dream._

Up here, on stage, the crowd cheering for her.   _For her._  For her to _sing_ , to _proclaim_ to the world who she was, to _be_ the _one_ she was meant to be.

So she sang.  She sang and sang; she sang songs she knew well, she sang songs she didn't know at all.  But still she sang.  The crowd loved her.  It cheered her name, pressing in on her on all sides.  She utilized all the space on the small, circular stage she was on, running about and dancing the moves she had practiced in secret for so many years.

She felt it.  The crowd and the music helped her to realize it, to discover it.  This was where she had dreamed of being for so many years.  This was where she _belonged_ .  She was **Miku** .  And she was **Number One.**


	5. Collateral, Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miku experiences a normal day of work.

\---,  )--\-----     
      ( ( 02:45 PM ) )     
           --- ---(     ‘---

 

Miku smiled again as the customer glanced up at her from his menu for the fifth time.  She smiled politely, standing and holding her notepad at the ready, waiting for his order.  He was the only customer in the restaurant right now, and he seemed to be a first-timer, probably American.  After a few more silent moments, he finally decided what to order.

"Alright," she said cheerily.  "That'll be out as soon as it’s ready."  She scribbled the order on the notepad as she said this, then dashed back through the double doors to the kitchen and shouted the order to Miki.  She then sat down on one of the chairs next to the door.  Iroha was already on the second of these, pretty spent from the brief lunch rush that had just earlier ended.

Apparently, and luckily for her, Neru was still the new girl here, and thus they were always giving her tips and helping her with her job.  Miki told her where to put the orders so she would be able to find them.  Iroha had shown her how to hide a copy of the menu inside her apron to help her keep the orders straight and learn the menu better, just as Iroha herself had done when she had been a new employee.  And Kiyoteru had reminded her multiple times not to slack off.

So these were the Vocaloids of AH Wares.  They were pretty nice, though they could be a little frantic at times.  It had occurred to her that that it was a bit crazy for them to think that they could run a full-fledged restaurant, just the two of them.  Of course, this was the the reason they were looking for help, and why they were looking for another Vocaloid to add to their ranks.

Miku was fully aware, as she was of many things, of AH Ware's intention to induct a new Vocaloid.  Of course, this was never an easy process.  First, a company had to find at least one prospective candidate; then, after several months of professional training in voice and dance, and many iterations of costume and other presets, the new Vocaloid is unveiled in his or her "Birthday Concert".  "Unveiled", however literal the word may be, is a bit misleading, as most everyone is usually aware of the "new" Vocaloid long before the premier concert.  Miku had experienced all these things on Luka's path to induction to Crypton, although her own path had been a bit different...

She had never personally met any of the AH Vocaloids except during their Induction and Introduction Interviews, and she considered a good bonding experience.  Despite her numerous talents, she still had a bit of trouble with people.  Miki and Iroha acted very similarly, both very spazzy at times, while very serious at others.  Iroha seemed more often the former, however, and Miki more the latter.  

Kiyoteru... she couldn't really formulate an opinion of him.  He seemed very business-oriented, though perhaps a bit too obsessed with numbers, even more than most other Vocaloids, including herself, which was saying something.  He was probably in his office right now, in fact, counting the beans Miki had cooked today.  Apparently, to keep himself more focused on the restaurant, he had put an indefinite hiatus on his band.

She had never attended any of the AH Vocaloid's concerts; neither any of Ice Mountan's, nor any of their other concerts.  She had never met any of the members of Kiyoteru's band, either...  Or had she?

She sat up quickly, suddenly slightly remembering.  Had she?  Hadn't she?  Yesterday at that store...  No, not yesterday, the day before- the first time- the ninth-

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud, sudden sizzling sound.  Having leaned back to think, Miku jumped out of her chair at the startling sound, looking around for it's source.  She realized that the sound had come from the direction of the stove, where Miki was cooking.  Miku walked over and noticed that Miki had haphazardly placed a beef patty on a frying pan which lay unattended on a burner.  Miki stood a few feet away, staring into space.

"Uh... Miki?" Miku said, pointing to the patty, "Do you want to burn that?"

Miki jumped, startled out of her staring.  "Ah?  Oh, uh, no, I was just... distracted," she said, quickly adjusting the patty and the pan.  She attended to it for a few moments before drifting off, staring down the corridor leading to the back door once again.

"You waiting for someone?" Miku asked, following Miki's gaze.

"Hah?  Uh, yeah..."  Miki stumbled over the words as if she hadn't expected Miku to notice.  "Yes, I'm waiting for someone... But he told me he would be arriving around 1'o'clock, so I'm a bit worried..."  Miki carefully flipped the patty before continuing.  "Might you have seen him by any chance?  His name is Piko Utatane."

Miku recognized the name at once.  The sole Vocaloid of Sony Distribution Corp., Piko was the first and (currently) only attempt to create a half robotic Vocaloid.  The results were... odd, to say the least.

But, to feign ignorance, Miku simply tilted her head.  Miki continued, "Uh... young boy, looks to be about 14, white hair, white dress, is about... yea tall."  She lifted her hands, holding them about 8 inches apart before quickly digressing, placing the pan on an unlit burner and pulling a bun and plate out of various cupboards.

Miku thought hard, trying to remember if she had seen him at all recently.  Her walk to work had been uneventful after Ruko had left; she had spent most of the walk thinking about how easy life was for normal people.  Until now, work had been ordinary and uneventful also.  Well, at least as ordinary as learning an entirely new set of skills can be. "No... No, I don't think I've seen you Piko friend."

Miki sighed and nodded, looking rather crestfallen.  Miku smiled sympathetically, and took the finished order from the counter where Miki had just placed it.  As Miku approached the door, Iroha burst through, shouting to prepare for another rush and pinning 2 orders to the lazy susan.  Miku heard Miki affirm these as she passed through the still swinging doors, and Miku smiled.  The work would definitely take Miki's mind off her worries.

Miku delivered the order, then took the drink orders of one table that had been recently occupied.  But as she passed through the double doors to deliver the order, she was Kiyoteru stand there, waiting.  He beckoned for her.

"Hang on a sec," she said, then shouted to Miki, "Two lemonades and an unsweetened iced tea!"  She turned back towards him.

Expressionless, he said, "I don't know how you managed to get so good overnight.  I don't know how you’re doing it, what you expect to get out of it, or who you want to please.  I don't know why you're doing this."  He stepped closer and placed his hand on her shoulder, a shadow of a smile appearing on his face.  "But keep up the good work."

He returned to his office, leaving her standing there, slightly confused until Iroha nearly hit her with the swinging door.  She put herself back into work, telling herself that she would figure him out later.  Right now, it was time to work.  Plain and simple, work.


End file.
